Easy Dinner Recipe

This isn't really a recipe, but more an idea.  One of our favorite easy dinners is a Mexican French Bread Pizza.
Just take a loaf of French bread (homemade or store bought, up to you).

Slice it open lengthwise.

Spread with refried beans and top with grated cheese.
Broil or bake until the cheese is melted.

Cut into pieces, we usually go with about 3 inch pieces.

Top with your favorite toppings!  Here is mine topped with salsa, avocado, tomato, sour cream, and hot sauce.  SOoooOOO good!  Fast and easy to boot!

Super Easy Decoupage Frame

I am trying to add some cute things into my kitchen.  When I was going through my monster file box, I came across a $1 wooden frame Shauna and I picked up at Michael's a while back.  It got buried and forgotten.  Well, as soon as I found it I grabbed a piece of scrapbook paper and went to town!
Here it is before, with my supplies: 

I painted the frame's back and sides with acrylic craft paint.  I mixed some blue and green to get the color I wanted.  When that was dry, I laid the frame upside down on the scrapbook paper and traced around it.  Then I cut out the paper and used Mod Podge to adhere it to the frame.  I then took a sanding block and sanded the edges so none of the paper was hanging over the edges of the frame.  To give it a little more "oomph", I took a blue ink pad and inked the edges of the frame.  I love distressing, whether it is with ink, paint, sanding, etc.
Here it is, all ready for a cute picture:

Shower Curtain Love

I know I keep saying this, but this is one of my FAVORITE projects EVER!  :)  Here is a picture of my kids bathroom before with just a dollar store shower curtain liner:
Blah.

Blech.

Enough already with the blah-blah bathroom!!

This. has. to. end.  I looked to the internet for some ideas and was inspired by these:
From Make it and Love it and Show & Tell (two of my favorite blog reads)

A trip to a fabric store or two produced this inspiration:

I started by measuring the shower curtain liner (a new, sturdier one).  I cut my main fabric (the yellow and white) into 2 panels the length of the new curtain, plus a few inches for seam allowance.  Then sewed the 2 panels together.  It was wider than I needed, so I cut the sides to be the width of the liner plus a couple inches for seam allowance.  I then hemmed the curtain on the bottom and sides.
Next, the ruffles.  Love me some ruffles!  I wanted the black and white fabric to be the longest ruffle.  I laid it out to determine how long I wanted it.

I made the width of the ruffle almost twice as wide as the curtain so I could gather it.  I made sure the ruffle was a little longer than I wanted (for the seam allowance), and hemmed it.  Then, I did the same for the top ruffle.

Here is how I gathered the ruffles.  Now, I have the cheapest machine out there.  I am borrowing my sister in law's machine, which is the most basic machine from Wally World.  All it can do is straight and zig zag stitches.  But, I am so grateful to have it!  First, set the stitch length to the longest length.

Sew two lines of stitching about 1/8" apart along the top of the fabric to be gathered.  Then, pull both bottom threads and slide the fabric along the threads creating a gather.  That's all there is to it!  I always do two rows of stitching to gather, because I have tried doing only one and had the thread break on me.  More than once.  I was NOT a happy camper when that happened.

After I gathered each ruffle, I pinned it along the top of the curtain and sewed it on.  And here is where I am wishing I took more pictures.  Sorry!!  OK, I will try to explain as best I can.  To cover up the top of the curtain and create a place for the hanging rings to go through, I made a strip of the yellow and white fabric.  I made it the width of the curtain, and about 5 inches long.  I wanted it to be 2 inches on the front and fold over to be 2 inches on the back, plus seam allowance gave me 5 inches.  I sewed it on like a quilt binding.  For the front, I put the right sides together and sewed it on.  I folded it over to the back, folded up the bottom and hand sewed it.
Clear as mud?  Well...almost done!!
I decided that making button holes would be the best way to hang the curtain from the rings.  This machine doesn't have a button hole stitch, so I just made them myself.  Begin by doing the widest, closest zig zag at the top of where you want the buttonhole.  Then, on the left side, switch to a much smaller zig zag and zig zag down to where you want the bottom of the buttonhole to be.  When you get to the bottom, switch back to the widest zig zag and sew several stitches. To make the right side, switch back to the smaller stitch, and zig zag back up to the top of the buttonhole by holding the reverse button.
Sometimes, I did a good job:

 Sometimes, it didn't come out as good:

It will still work, and not be seen so I was ok with it. :)
I used my seam ripper to slit the center of the buttonhole open.  Insert rings and hang.
Voila!!  Done!   And that is how the cutest shower curtain I've ever had was born.

Sweet ruffles, how I love you!

 The whole bathroom looks new now!

And we all lived happily ever after.  :)

Cereal box to In-box

In my kitchen "office" corner re-vamp, I realized an in-box was necessary.  Since our files are now kept in the garage I knew that I wasn't going to walk out to the garage to file every little paper as it came in.  Without an in-box of sorts, there would be papers all over the place or lost, etc. 
Weeeeellll...  I didn't have an in-box.  What to do, what to do?  I was inspired by the blog Choose to Thrive, in which the theme is "rock what ya got" and not spend anything.  I LOVE it!!  So I took a look around to see what I had.  I came up with a cereal box and a placemat. 

Not the most attractive thing.  It definitely needed to be covered with something.  I decided on a placemat from the Dollar Tree.  I only found one of these placemats at the time, and knew I could do something with it.  (forgive my lack of pictures and lacking tutorial.  I will get better at this, I promise!)
First, I cut one end and the back off of the box.  I also shortened the box a bit to just larger than 11", so it would hold standard paper size but not be too big. 

 

Then I cut a piece of the box end and taped it back on to create a lip to hold the papers in.

Then I set to work covering that box.  I cut the placemat apart, because it was two layers of this ADORABLE fabric.  Turned out to be just the right amount of fabric.  I just kind of wrapped it like a present, cutting where I needed to so it would fit and not be too bulky.  I hot glued it on as I went. 
Here she is, all covered and pretty:

You can see where it is pieced together in some places.

The back view:

The bottom didn't get covered, cuz who's going to look at the bottom?  Not even me, so it's fine. 

Perfect!  and FREE, which is awesome!!  Turns out it is fun to "rock what ya got".  What fabulous projects do you have that you didn't have to spend much on?

Watermelon Pops

Oh the joys of summer! The HEAT, the swimming, the HEAT, the vacations, the HEAT, the games & family time, and finally the HEAT. Can you tell we live in the desert? As fabulous as the summer is, the most prevalent thing about April - October in our area is that it is HOT, HOTTER, & HOTTEST!  Cool treats are so important in helping get through these blazing months.  Have you seen how much they are charging these days for the frozen, artificially colored sugar water in the freezer section of your local grocery store? If you are looking for healthier options that include a recognizable ingredient (like fruit, for example) the cost multiplies! In the past, we have used a lot of "Otter Pops" to help endure the inferno, but this year we started looking for better choices. Our first endeavor? Watermelon Pops. AMAZING!

Thanks to a friend, fellow blogger, and chef we decided to try out these gems and they will remain a staple in our freezers all summer.

Aside from being tasty & refreshing (& they ARE!) they are 1. very healthy, 2. very inexpensive, and 3. our families approve (ok, so admittedly it's the kids you were wondering about - testimonials to follow).

Supplies needed: seedless watermelon, popsicle or craft sticks (we got ours at Walmart in the craft section - the bigger size like you see at the Dr's office work great), a big knife, a cutting board, a cookie sheet, plastic wrap (optional) 

Step 1: Cut a small disk off the top and bottom

of the watermelon, creating a flat surface. 

This helps stabilize the watermelon while you cut off the rind.

Step 2: Slice off the rind in long strips

Isn't it pretty? Kind of reminds me of a big lovely gemstone.

Step 3: Cut the melon into slabs as thick as you want your popsicles

Step 4: Cut slabs into popsicle sizes and slide the sticks into place

Place your finished pops on a cookie sheet lined with plastic wrap and

pop into the freezer. After they are frozen place them in a big ziploc bag & enjoy!

"We approve this message"

Feedback from the 4 yr old when told to stay in the kitchen to enjoy the pop:

"I don't need to! These don't drip all over or fall off the stick!"

Feedback from the youngest was based on his actions

Cost breakdown: Watermelon - 4 melons at $1 each (Sprout's special)= $4, popsicle sticks= $2.29
Because we only had 75 sticks, we only made 75 pops and ate the leftover melon. The cost ended up at 8.4 cents a popsicle. So, if you compare that to a twelve count store bought version, the cost per box would be $1.01 - Pretty amazing, huh?  Even if you don't find watermelon on special, the cost is still fabulous, then add that to the healthiness (is that a word?) and you've got a winner!

Suggestion: try other melons like honeydew, cantaloupe, or crenshaw. The kids will still have color choices! :)

Miscellaneous Box

OK.  Don't judge me for what I am about to show you.  Can anyone relate to the following scene?

This is a little corner in my kitchen which also serves as a little "home office" type area.  Well, I don't know if you can tell, but it wasn't working how I had imagined.  The file system was not working for us, junk piling up, etc.  Ya know.  Well, it's time this area had a makeover!  

It all began with a filing cabinet that a friend gave us.  We were able to put it in the garage, set up files in it, and file away everything that was in the pile and file box.  With that huge black file box gone, I could get to work making this corner cute!!

At our last house, we had a dedicated "junk" drawer (ok, maybe two) in the kitchen to hold pens, pencils, tape, scissors, paper clips, etc.  

Sadly, I don't have any extra drawer space at our current house.  But I still have all the little things floating around that need a home.

Enter: the green box.  I found this baby at Goodwill for around $2.  It is plastic, and an ugly green color, but I knew that could easily be fixed.  I was attracted to the cute lines and the flower detail on the front.

 My current home is very neutral colored.  I love neutrals, but have been feeling like adding more color lately with accessories.  So, I decided on a nice happy yellow for this project.  I had some spray paint left from another project that was perfect!  The Rustoleum 2X coverage is my favorite spray paint!  In order to emphasize the flower and wood grain on the box, I also pulled out some brown glaze.  I like the color "Tobacco" by Ralph Lauren.  I got it at Home Depot a few years ago.  When I bought a whole gallon of this stuff, I didn't realize how such a little bit of it goes a long way.  I will be using this gallon my whole life before I run out!  

Here is how I paint small projects:

I have some free carpet sample squares that I use to protect the ground.  They are great because they don't take up much room to store, and I can use as many or as few as I need.  

Here is the little green box gone yellow!  Lookin' good.

Even better after the glaze is applied.  I love how it brings out the details and gives it dimension.

Now the flower really stands out!!

I will be back to show this little baby in action after a couple other projects are completed.  Let the makeover begin!

Strawberry Freezer Jam

We had our jam session!  Shauna came over and we jammed our little hearts out.  The easiest, tastiest kind--strawberry freezer jam!  I love freezer jam because of the fresh taste.  Since it isn't cooked, it has the best just-picked taste, and is such a gorgeous bright red color.  Yum!  We made about 8 pints, and I am going to go buy some more berries and make more.  In quarts this time.  :)
Strawberries were only four pounds for a dollar at the Ranch Market by me, and they were good ones!!  Too bad they went back up in price.  Anyway, here is the recipe we followed:  (from Chef Tess)

4 cups crushed berries (used food processor)
1 1/2 cups honey
1 pkg freezer pectin

We used a gel kind of pectin and the powder kind.  The powder kind set up better.  We were going to add some Clear Jel to the runnier jam, but we are just using it on pancakes instead.

How do we like our jam?  Well, if it were proper we would eat it with a spoon out of the jar.  But, to be a good example to the children we will try to use it on other foods such as toast, biscuits, pancakes, in yogurt (makes beautiful parfaits-just layer plain yogurt and strawberry jam), on ice cream, you name it!  Mmm-mm good!


*note:  I made another batch and used Clear Jell instead of pectin and it worked like a charm!  You can use any amount of sweetener you want with Clear Jell, so I only used 1 cup of honey to 4 cups pureed berries, and then added the Clear Jell.  It set up beautifully, and not too sweet!

Table Re-do

Oh, boy!  I am SO excited to unveil one of my latest projects!  I am just so excited that it is DONE and that it came out so nicely.
Here is my old kitchen table.  In all its orange oak-ey glory:

 

Yes, it's a mess.  This picture was taken in the past to show how messy the table gets when the kids do art projects, and I forgot to take a more recent picture of it cleared off.  Anyway, you can still clearly get the idea of what it looked like.  It was not only ugly in color, but it was showing definite wear and had paint and permanent marker on the top (which you CAN'T see in this picture, but it's there.)

  Here is a chair that shows what some of the wear was like:

(yes, it's taken after I started painting and with my phone so it's not a very good shot, but you get the idea.)

I saw this tutorial on one of my favorite blogs, Clover Lane.  She did a similar transformation on her dining furniture, so I gave it a go.  I pretty much did exactly what she said to on her awesome tut, but I will give a summary of what I did here.  I got all my supplies from Home Depot.  

Supplies:  very good paint brush (CRUCIAL!), tack cloth, mineral spirits, sanding block and sandpaper in varying grits, satin Minwax fast-drying polyurethane, and black satin oil enamel - YES, oil.  DON'T let the guy at Home Depot try to talk you into latex instead.  It was very easy to use and I think it will be more durable to boot.  It is very smelly, but I did my painting outside so it was fine.  

Tips:  get a solid sanding block, NOT a sanding sponge.  When you are distressing the edges at the end, a sponge will scratch up the paint around the edges. A quart was all I needed of paint and a pint of poly.  I have some leftover, and I painted a big table and 6 chairs.  I did two coats of paint on the table top, and one on everywhere else.  I did two coats of poly on the table top, and one coat on the chair seats and backs.  No poly anywhere else.  I am very interested to see how all this holds up...  My table and chairs get HEAVY use. 

I sanded the table top lightly, but not anything else because it was already so worn.  I also did not use primer, because I wanted to distress the edges and wanted the wood color to peek through (not white primer).  Use the tack cloth to wipe the table after sanding.  I also gave it a cleaning with some TSP, but don't know if this was necessary.  Then, I painted everything with one coat.  (those chairs were a PAIN to paint!  but SOOOO worth it)  Let that dry, then touched up wherever I missed and did another coat on table top.  Let that dry and then distressed the edges.  Use the tack cloth to clean the dust off before using the polyurethane.  After the two coats of poly were dry, I let it sit outside for a couple days to really set before using it.  Brought it in, and I love it!  We all do.  It is so beautiful now!  

 

I had a hard time getting a good picture, but hopefully you get the idea.  A new dining set for about 50 bucks!!!  Lovely.